U.S. Finishes Ahead of England in World Cup Rankings

If failing to win a group lauded by a national media as “EASY” and crashing out to their hated German rivals in the round of 16 weren’t bad enough for England’s 2010 World Cup team, today brought another piece of bad news for the Three Lions.

That’s two spots worse than the previous worst finish of 11th in 1958, and one spot below the United States in this year’s tally.

Now it must be said that, unless you’re Spain, any numbers that appear next to the name of a national team after a World Cup don’t mean a great deal. And FIFA uses a similar formula to come up with this ranking as they do to rank the teams each month.

The rankings are a joke.
But, I do think that the tie and finishing ahead of England was a stepping stone. Moving up to the second tier national teams. When we consistantly finish ahead of England in the years coming, this will be remembered.

The only time that ranking matters for the US is if they can crack the top seven prior to a WC draw. Then they could be a seeded team. Otherwise, Jose is right. It may as well be written on toilet paper.

Those of us fluent in Soccer know the FIFA rankings are a joke, but how often do we see(at least in this country) actual relevance given to the rankings by soccer-illiterate journos. When ever the Socceroos go up it is given as proof that our football is improving, when ever they drop a few places, suddenly its impending doom! I wish Fifa rankings were more like the Elo system, taking into account relative strength of opposition and margin of victory.
Either adopt Elo or go back to the boxing method…Spain currently holds the crown, whoever is first to beat Spain in a competitive match after July 11th should be ‘world champions’:) until ‘they’ get beaten etc:)